For Your Eyes Only

Released in 1981, this was Roger Moore's fifth outing as James Bond, Agent 007. In my opinion, he started out with two reasonable installments in the franchise, "Live and Let Die" and "The Man with the Golden Gun", and then the franchise improved with "The Spy Who Loved Me". Sadly, however, the James Bond movie franchise had a hard fall after that with "Moonraker". I would say "For Your Eyes Only", the first one made after that highly criticised sci-fi Bond film, turned out to be an improvement, but not as much of an improvement as I hoped for when I watched it recently.

A British military spy ship sinks near a Warsaw Pact country after hitting a mine, and the ATAC, a communications system, goes down with it. Whoever gets their hands on this device will have control over all Polaris nuclear missiles! So, a marine archaeologist named Sir Timothy Havelock is asked by the British government to locate the wreck of the ship, but before he can send in his report, he and his Greek wife are killed by a Cuban hit-man named Hector Gonzales, leaving their daughter, Melina, who survives the attack! James Bond is then assigned to recover the ATAC, before it ends up in the wrong hands! On his mission, he meets Melina Havelock, who is seeking to avenge the murder of her parents, and the two team up for the investigation. Obviously, a number of life-threatening challenges await, with enemies sometimes nearby!

The opening sequence, before the theme song, shows Bond leaving flowers at his late wife's grave, and going from there to a battle against a familiar foe. This opening sequence is promising, and ends rather humorously. However, from there, the film goes into the theme song, a soft ballad performed by Sheena Easton, which seems out of place in a spy thriller, especially coming right after that opening sequence, which doesn't quite leave the viewer in the mood for a song like that. Through the rest of the 2 hr.+ film, I can't say there aren't any thrilling moments. In fact, there are quite a few of those, such as more than one memorable chase scene. As you would probably expect from a Bond film starring Moore, there's also humour, especially at the end, I would say. Unfortunately, with the thrills and the laughs, there are also some flaws. Bibi Dahl, the teenage ice-skater who appears frequently in the film, I found a tad annoying, not funny (like she's apparently supposed to be), and I know I'm not alone. Also, the scene where Bond and Melina meet underwater with romantic music put to it is just ridiculous!

Clearly, "For Your Eyes Only" is more popular than the widely lambasted "Moonraker", and I'm sure many consider it a vast improvement after that film, but not me, I can only consider it a slight improvement, not quite enough to put the franchise back on track. The three flaws I've mentioned aren't quite enough to describe why I'm not too impressed with this 1981 spy thriller, but I'm not exactly sure how to fully explain the rest. Well, as usual, this Bond film is rather long at over two hours, and this is one of the cases where they just couldn't quite keep it consistent enough throughout its long run. I don't know what else to say about this particular installment in the long official James Bond movie franchise, except that if you like spy thrillers, this one might do, but you also just might find that certain flaws really get in the way at times.

The Bond series was moving into the wrong direction in 1979 with Moonraker, John Glen takes over the directing for the next 5 adventures, beginning with 'For Your Eyes Only'.

Bond is back down to Earth with a bang, a very satisfying entry in the Bond series. The film is much more Fleming-like, that is until Dalton comes in.

The story is very interesting because it's more of a spy movie, Moore has some work to do here!!! There's no reliance on the gadgets. The Bond girl played by Carole Bouquet is very good, not just a pretty girl!

The acting is much better than Moonraker, John Glen eases into the directing quite comfortably.

The photography is wonderful, very realistic colour use.

There are some fun stunt sequences, the ski chase is fantastic.

The film score is fun, but a product of its time, unlike Barry, the music doesn't transcend the generations!

Overall, 'For Your Eyes Only' is a satisfying Bond picture. Obviously you'll be viewing it in wide-screen!!! James Bond returns in Octopussy!

Roger Moore returns as Bond and takes down Blofeld once again in the first 10 minutes after visiting his late wife's grave. It's a good start, but it doesn't get any better after that.

A British spy ship is accidentally sunk by a mine. Its valuable communication equipment is a top prize for the Soviets. Meanwhile, a Greek tycoon is killed for unknown reasons, and Bond is assigned to investigate. He tracks down the assassin, but is killed in revenge by the tycoon's daughter Melina (Carole Bouquet).

Bond goes to Cortina in the Italian Alpes. And that's where he battles the bad guys in a Bond Olympics. He skis, he ski jumps, he skis on the bobsled track, and to top it off, he fights a hockey team. It's a bit of fun action. But it makes the mistake of dropping Carole Bouquet for much of the middle. I rather have a pretty face get in on the action. And Greek hilltop villain hideout just doesn't have the explosive action needed for the climax. All in all, it's an acceptable Bond escapist adventure.

When a secret UK military spy ship (disguised as a fishing boat) is sunk in a Warsaw pact country's waters the Government fear that another power will recover their ATAC device and render their current submarine control system useless or allow others to order their weapons to be fired on the UK. Bond is dispatched to recover the device with the help of Havelock. However when Havelock is killed his daughter Melina is set on revenge and Bond must get the device before she kills those involved.

After all that messing around with special effects in space in Moonraker and too much comedy in The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond goes back to basics for the new decade. This sees the comedy added to by a nasty streak that sees Bond pushing people off cliffs – even the opening scene is very cruel when you think about it! It also means the film is a lot tighter and has plenty of good action scenes from start to finish.

However the back to basics thing has some downsides. The whole film is not as memorable as others because it doesn't have any BIG scenes or a BIG ending. Also the baddie is totally forgetable and doesn't make his mark at all. However this is still a good spy movie – even if it ranks low as a Bond.

Moore is actually good – he seems better now that his humour is toned down to allow him to be cruel. Bouquet is good but Topol is just an oddity. Glover is AWOL and the rest of the cast seem more down to earth than usual.

Overall it is a really good film but the normal nature of affairs mean it occasionally doesn't feel like a Bond. That said I still rate it as a step in the right direction as it saw Bond become a spy movie again and not just a spoof of itself.

Likable Roger Moore in an amazing adventure set on wonderful outdoors located mostly on Greece and Greek islands . This is a Bond's good entry in which faces dangerous adventures around the world . Moore's outing with overwhelming action and spectacular scenarios , the film teams Bond with an archaeologist as endearing ally ( a beautiful Carole Bouquet) in an effort to stop an industrialist from selling a mechanical artifact . After his first introduction in ¨Live and let die¨ as tough and attractive James Bond of the Ian Fleming's famous creation , Roger Moore went on playing various 007 , and ¨ For your eyes only ¨ is one of the best . The picture starts with an overblown opening , the best part of this film in which James Bond reckoning to Blofield (in previous entries played by Donald Plesance and Charles Gray , but here doesn't appear his face) . This thrilling film deals about seductive James Bond as the ultimate spy hero who is assigned by MI6 a dangerous mission to recover an important device that control over British Polaris nuclear subs . As Bond joins the search, he suspects the tough Colombo (Topol as a gregarious smuggler) and the suave Kristatos (Julian Glover) of seizing the powerful system. Bond finds an ally in the gorgeous Melina Havelock (Carol Bouquet) , who blames Colombo for the death of her parents (Jack Hedley) . Meanwhile , Bond goes to a ski station , there happens a high-octane race and Bond discovers some clues and confronting hoodlums (Michael Gothard ,Charles Dance). James is double-crossed and continues to follow the lead , deciding to investigate on the Egean sea . Following the tracks all lead a nasty billionaire , a maniacal villain who schemes the selling of the powerful machine to a Russian general (Walter Goetell).

This solid , slick thriller with magic mix of action-packed , dazzling stunts, gadgetry, and romance provided by sexy company as Carol Bouquet, Lynn Holly Johnson and Cassandra Harris (first wife of Pierce Brosnan until her death) . Roger Moore as James Bond is fine , he does remarkably well , he earns in irony, humor ,suavity and sympathy, however also has coldness ,cunning , intelligence and toughness . Here Bond is an efficient , relentless agent trying to chase obstinately the criminals , traveling around the world as always , as this globe-trotting story is set in Spain , Veneto ,Italia and Greece at Meteoro mountains and Corfu islands . Bond to achieve his aims , along the way uses violent means even pulling off brutal killings against enemies who wreak all sorts of havoc . As always Bond will use fantastic gadgets and spectacular cars (here a Lotus) provided by ¨Q¨ (Desmond Llewelyn) . In addition , there appears the usual as Lois Maxwell, ¨MoneyPenny¨ , Minister of Defense as Geoffrey Keen and Walter Goetell as Russian general .

The picture contains comic-strip adventure , sensational pursuits , silly set pieces, great stunts, tongue-in check humor, automovile chase, frantic unstopped action , an impressive tour over razor-sharp coral reefs, amazing gimmicks and stimulating images like are the happenings on the spectacular pursuits on the snow, the overwhelming underwater scenes, and the breathtaking battles . As is like a roller-coaster , as is fast-paced, light, excitement, funny and entertaining ; it's a winner for oo7 fans and non-fans alike . The chase and suspense formula wears strong in this entry .The action-packed includes , exciting underwater fights, and cliffhanging assault of a rousing mountaintop fortress filmed in Meteoro monastery .Enjoyable title song by Sheena Easton and stirring musical score fitting to action by Bill Conti (Rocky saga's composer) ,following the John Barry's classic style . Riveting and fancy main titles by habitual Maurice Binder , furthermore eye-popping production design by Peter Lamont. It's brimming with colorful and fascinating cinematography by cameraman Alan Hume . The motion picture produced by habitual producers, Albert R Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson , being professionally made by John Glenn who filmed various outings and previously directed 2nd unit and edition on some early Bond movies . He directed several entries as ¨Licence to kill, A view to kill , For your eyes only and Octopussy¨ though with no much originality . Debuting John Glenn keeps this moving at an incredibly fast pace and this story about every's favorite super-spy falling in love with an archaeologist is one of author Ian Fleming's best . The film will appeal to James Bond series's buffs but good for fans only ; because this one goes on far too long and has provoked so much debate among 007 followers . Rating : 6'5 , well worth watching .